Part of an ongoing discussion. A reader with the divinely affectionate name of Theophilus writes:
I understand the difference as a matter of grammar. I’m not sure I understand the difference as a matter of logic. Perhaps I have a wrong idea of what is meant by “self-evident”? I thought it meant “cannot be denied by any rational agent.”
Excellent question! Let us see if I am equal to answering it. Read the remainder of this entry »
First they came for the Aunt Jemima, and I did not speak out—because I do not eat pancakes.
Then they came for Princess Mia from Land o’ Lakes Butter, and I did not speak out— because I do not use butter.
Then they came for the Uncle Ben, and I did not speak out—because I do not eat rice.
Then they came for Goya Foods—and there was nothing left to eat.
https://www.twincities.com/2020/07/11/feds-deny-minnesota-request-for-aid-to-rebuild-after-unrest/
The Trump Administration has denied the request of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party) to have $500 Million dollars of your hard-earned taxpayer money and mine go to rebuild the property damaged by the anarchists, looters, and rioters Mr. Walz encouraged in his jurisdiction. Read the remainder of this entry »
Defund the Left
President Trump on Friday said he is telling the Treasury Department to look into the tax-exempt status and the funding of “universities and school systems” over alleged left-wing bias, saying that children should not be “indoctrinated.”
“Too many Universities and School Systems are about Radical Left Indoctrination, not Education,” Trump said in a pair of tweets. “Therefore, I am telling the Treasury Department to re-examine their Tax-Exempt Status… and/or Funding, which will be taken away if this Propaganda or Act Against Public Policy continues. Our children must be Educated, not Indoctrinated!”
Every few years, mankind must read and ponder this poem. One can tell the poem is immortal because it is apt for this generation, surely as it was in 1919.
As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market-Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall.
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.
We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn,
That water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision, and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.
We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market-Place;
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.
With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch.
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch.
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings.
So we worshiped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.
When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “Stick to the Devil you know.”
On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbor and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “The Wages of Sin is Death.”
In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selective Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “If you don’t work you die.”
Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew,
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four —
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.
* * * * * *
As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man —
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began: —
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her mire,
And the burnt Fool’s bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;
And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!
Rudyard Kipling
Read the remainder of this entry »
A reader with the god-loving name of Theophilus asks:
My comment:
“I ought to obey all universal moral principles” is not self evident if the moral principles in question are merely a list or description of moral principles human beings beforehand, and for other reasons, already obey.
I do not argue that the existence of universal moral principles necessarily presuppose a Creator, but I do argue that no other explanation for the existence of universal moral principles is rational.
I say one must either accept the existence of universal moral law implies a lawgiver, or one must lay one’s hand over one’s mouth, after saying human knowledge cannot reach to the origin or governing principles of the moral order.
Accounts of how the time and space arose from nonbeing to form an ordered, rational, and beautiful cosmos suffer a similar defect. One either must argue that creation implies creator, or one must assert the causes and aims of creation are beyond human reason to know.
Attempts to argue creation without a creator, or law without a lawgiver, break down into logical incoherence.
Here is my reasoning. Forgive the length of it, but the modern age forgets so much that it is so basic, one must reinvent the wheel with every conversation, and restate basics.
Read the remainder of this entry »
I was hoping they were looking to hire me when the National Catholic Register asked for “an interview”, but, no, sadly, the paper only wanted to ask me some questions about my writing.
But the gateways of fame are now open. I expect to be a household name in my own house before the month is passed.
A father-son duet, I thought it nice to share with my readers.
I heard an atheist whose wisdom and judgment I respect declare that he was the moral legislator for himself, and he was the person who would find, for himself, was righteous and just and true and decent, in accord with the Kantian Moral Imperative.
Hogwash.
Read the remainder of this entry »
In a 7-2 decision, the high court in Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania made it abundantly clear that the federal government has the authority to guard against the Affordable Care Act’s “contraceptive mandate” trampling the rights of religious objectors. Put simply, this means that religious employers will not be forced to supply their women employees with abortion pills that kill unborn life.
Read the remainder of this entry »
A reader with the singular yet egressive name of Exit Only writes:
J.K. Rowling, Bari Weiss and Noam Chomsky Among Dozens to Sign Open Letter Calling for End to Cancel Culture
The letter addressed the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests and calls to defund the police — acknowledging that the demands are over due while warning against cancel culture and being intolerant of differences.
“But this needed reckoning has also intensified a new set of moral attitudes and political commitments that tend to weaken our norms of open debate and toleration of differences in favor of ideological conformity,” the letter reads. “The democratic inclusion we want can be achieved only if we speak out against the intolerant climate that has set in on all sides.”
A samples of Twitter responses:
Ian Miles Cheong Replying to @Harpers
“I see only a collection of spineless liberals who never spoke out when cancel culture came for conservatives but now express concern when it’s affecting the intelligentsia. And how do they respond? With mild chiding, as if the far left are children to be scolded.”
Dave Rubin@RubinReport replies:
“Hilariously ridiculous. And several people on there who have tried to cancel me personally. The weakness of liberalism is totally out in the open.”
The letter as posted to Harper’s is here: https://harpers.org/a-letter-on-justice-and-open-debate/
Read the remainder of this entry »
My beautiful and talented wife was asked to write an article for the Christian Speculative Fiction magazine, Lorehaven.
“Ten thousand feet below the surface of the sea, trouble is brewing. Ancient racial hatred is simmering, growing dangerously close to boiling over.
This is the situation in the Fishman Island Arc of the long-running anime/manga One Piece when the main characters, the Straw Hat Pirates, arrive at Fishman Island. In the midst of the action and humor of this pirate adventure story, author Eiichiro Oda gives us an unexpectedly insightful glimpse into racism and its effects upon a culture.
Readers, ye be warned: there be spoilers throughout.
Fishman Island, deep beneath the ocean, is inhabited by a race of undersea beings who are both stronger and more-varied than humans. Some are beautiful, such as mermaids. Others are huge and powerful, like shark-men or octopus-men, massive creatures who can crush a human with a single blow. The loveliness of the first and the fearsome destructiveness of the second have made the fishmen into hot commodities at the slave markets of Sabaody.
Pirates often descend to their home island, deep under the sea, in order to kidnap fishmen and their children. Fishmen pirates return the favor, terrorizing humans and destroying their towns. This clash of races has been going on for generations.
In the midst of this racial animosity, two inhabitants of Fishman Island saw the toll it was taking on their society and vowed make a change. They both saw the same suffering. Their reaction, however, could not have been more different.”
All Men Dream of Earthwomen, Noetic File 2.0 An Apparition of the Intellect, is now posted.
Noetic File 2.0: An Apparition of the Intellect
This file contains the famous theophany with the Great Captain’s apparition or eidolon. While it is said such appearances occurred with more frequency to our ancestors, the doubtful nature of such reports leads a growing element of modern scholarship to open the question of whether this passage is a literary invention or poetical device.
The only other option is to presume that our narrator spoke face to face with a nonphysical manifestation. The normal respect and piety with which ancestral accounts are to be held would, of course, forbid any open doubt on this point.
Jagi, here:
After a tremendous struggle with Amazon, Fantastic Schools, Volume One is now LIVE — on paper and Kindle.
Chris Nuttall and I are the editors on this book, which contains, among other excellent stories, a Roanoke Academy story, staring Topher Evans (one of Dread’s Crew) written by Erin N. H. Furby. It also has a story by Frank Luke, who is a reader of this blog.
Have you ever wanted to go to magic school? To cast spells and brew potions and fly on broomsticks and—perhaps—battle threats both common and supernatural? Come with us into worlds of magic, where students become magicians and teachers do everything in their power to ensure the kids survive long enough to graduate. Welcome to … Fantastic Schools.
Follow a girl trying desperately to find her place in a school of dark magic, a band of witches desperate to prove they can be as good as the wizards, a school of magical monsters standing between the evil one and ultimate power, a businesswoman discovering the secrets of darkest evil … and what happens when a magical education goes badly wrong.
Follow us into worlds different, magical …
Includes stories by: Mel Lee Newmin, Emily Martha Sorensen, Aaron Van Treeck, Steven G. Johnson, George Phillies, Thomas K. Carpenter, Benjamin Wheeler, Frank B. Luke, G. Scott Huggins, Bernadette Durbin, Roger D. Strahan, Erin N.H. Furby, Denton Salle, and a Schooled In Magic novella (revealing the backstory of a major character) by Christopher G. Nuttall
Fantastic Schools, Volume One on Amazon — ebook, paper.
Fantastic Schools, Volume One on Nook, Kobo, and two other platforms
